Minneapolis approves $750,000 to beef up police presence on city streets

The Minneapolis City Council approved adding $750,000 to the Minneapolis Police Department’s budget to strengthen police patrols in Downtown and throughout Minneapolis. The funding, which was approved at the Council’s May 11, 2007 meeting, will be used to pay for targeted police overtime.

The City will add $500,000 from the City's Contingency Fund to allow police to increase patrols along the Route 5 bus line, especially in Downtown. Another $250,000 will allow for greater police presence in other parts of the city during the summer months.

After several years of increases in violent crime, the first quarter of 2007 saw crime fall by 22 percent city-wide and decrease in every police precinct by double digits. While Minneapolis’ busy downtown brings thousands into the city work and visit each day, and many others live in the expanding downtown neighborhood, the level of violent crime remains among the lowest in the city. Greater police presence will deter crime and allow officers to focus on livability crimes like aggressive panhandling and disorderly behavior that affect people’s perception of safety.

In addition to the new funding for overtime in the First Precinct, at least fifteen new police officers have been added to Downtown. Mounted Patrols have also been increased, especially on weekend nights, when officers on horses are particularly useful in crowd control.

During the past two summers, Minneapolis has greatly increased police visibility and presence in downtown through cooperative efforts with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Metro Transit Police and the State Patrol.